School draws line for 39 students
Proof of residence needed to remain
By Diette Courrégé
Thirty-nine students can no longer attend St. Andrews School of Math and Science, unless their parents can prove that they live in the school's attendance zone.
The students' parents haven't submitted sufficient proof to the school that their children live in the school's enrollment area, and the students aren't supposed to go to the school any longer.
Extra staff will be at the school Monday in case any of the students show up, and if they do, their parents will be called and asked for more documentation to show where they reside. If they can't submit adequate documentation, their children will be transferred to the schools they are supposed to attend.
The county school board passed a policy in January requiring stringent annual address verification for every school in the district. Only magnet schools with residency requirements — Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary, Buist Academy, C.E. Williams Middle School for Creative and Scientific Arts, Jennie Moore Elementary and St. Andrews — will have to follow the policy this year, but all schools will have to follow it next year.
The only magnet school other than St. Andrews that has verified students' residences is Buist Academy. Charleston County Schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley directed the three remaining magnet schools to begin the verification process this week.
Buist Academy was waiting on 11 students last week to show that they lived in Charleston County. Principal Sallie Ballard said Friday that she had verified that all but two of those families live in the county. The two outstanding cases are complicated situations and involve some legal issues that will have to be discussed with the superintendent, she said. She would not give further details about the families but said the students would be able to remain at the school until the investigation is complete.
Ballard said the results of the extra verification showed what she thought it would: "It proves that people are basically honest."
Some say Buist Academy didn't do enough verification because officials didn't evaluate whether students who got into the school by living downtown still lived on the peninsula.
As for St. Andrews students, McGinley said her heart goes out to those who will be upset because they will have to leave a school they like attending. But the board has set rules and procedures that have to be followed, she said.
St. Andrews officials investigated a group of 106 students whose parents said they were zoned to attend the school. Parents of 64 of those students provided the paperwork proving that St. Andrews was the school their children should attend. There are 33 others who have not satisfied the school's request for documentation, and six parents have been unreachable, despite two phone calls and two letters.
Three other parents already have appealed to the constituent board that their child be allowed to stay at St. Andrews. Their children will remain at the school until that process is complete, Associate Superintendent Doug Gepford said.
A task force of parents, area residents and city and school officials has been discussing issues related to the school, and Gepford said the group is supportive of the district's position on this issue.
"This has been talked about for awhile," Gepford said. "It's been coming, and we've been trying to prepare people for it. I think it will be OK. We want to work with people and help their kids."
St. Andrews Principal Kevin Conklin will call principals of schools to which his students will be transferring, and plans will be made to ensure a smooth move, Gepford said.
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@post andcourier.com.
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Comments
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
Something else that private schools do better than public schools...they don't care where you live...they have better things to do with their money, like educating your children, than spending it on figuring out where you sleep.
November 10, 2007 at 8:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nich19699 (anonymous) says...
ding dong! They have nothing else better to do than worry about where a child lives. As long as he/she gets to school safe,is a good student, not causing problems and do his work, leave them be and educate our children. You dont see any other districts worrying about nonsense like this.
November 10, 2007 at 9:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mlm (anonymous) says...
St. Andrews Principal Kevin Conklin is doing his job. It's too bad Buist Principal Sallie Ballard is not. Now Charleston County Superintendent Nancy McGinley will have to convince the rest of us why that's OK with her.
The truth is Buist and its principal Sallie Ballard have not been honest for a long time about this scam. Nothing has changed at Buist. Cheating continues unabated. The sad thing is they are using the news of address checks and rule enforcement at other schools as a cover to make it look like Buist is doing the same when it isn't. It's still "business as usual" at Buist. What a terrible lesson in dishonesty these irresponsible and dishonest parents and school administrators are giving the students at Buist.
Well, Dr. McGinley, what about it?
November 10, 2007 at 11:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glovla (anonymous) says...
Actually dorchester school district 2 has been doing this for years now. All residents are required to show some type of utility bill before registering their students. They stated that this helps keep people out who try to bring their kids over to this district that dont live in the area.
November 10, 2007 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mlm (anonymous) says...
Glovla is right. Schools have always had the legal responsibility to do this. Charleston County school leaders have knowingly ignored this as family & friends took unfair advantage of the system. Because the parents of these children were "taken care of" there was less motivation of those in power to improve the rest of the system. They would say "So what if Charleston students slipped into Berkeley or Dorchester schools."
Glovia's comments prove that admission cheats at Buist and other Charleston schools are placing a burden on others, and not just in Charleston County. Buist is a symptom of a cancer that is slowly killing our public schools in Charleston. Waste, incompetence, corruption and graft are rampant throughout CCSD.
It makes no sense that this type of accountability wasn't done the day schools opened in August and not so late in the school year. How many people know that from years CCSD has assigned students to poor performing and high percentage minority schools without regard to attendance zones? Nearly 1/3 of the students who attend some failing schools don't live anywhere near those schools. CCSD just assigned those kids without bothering to request legal transfers. This is why downtown school supporters raised the charge of "dumping" more than a year ago.
Someone needs to blow the roof off this whole stinking mess.
November 10, 2007 at 2:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
merlin (anonymous) says...
As a parent at St. Andrews, I applaud this move. St. Andrews does accept children from the county-at-large, but there IS an application process. For people to ignore the process and just lie that they live in the attendance zone is not fair to the families who applied correctly. Our school is bursting at the seams because of people who are lying and cheating. What an example to set for your children...don't follow the rules/procedures...just lie and cheat to get what you want. I'm glad they are getting caught.
By the way, to the comment that private schools are better, that is not the case at St. Andrews. I moved my children FROM an "elite" private school to attend St. Andrews. It is an excellent school. I'm grateful everyday for Kevin Conklin and the great staff at St. Andrews.
November 10, 2007 at 3:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mlm (anonymous) says...
The truth is that any good school (public or private) knows their students well enough to also know where they live (or at least the school has a process for keeping track of the student's true home address). Good schools and responsible school administrators would do this for many reasons, a child's safety and security is just one that comes to mind. I question the integrity of a parent, school principal or school district official who would try to circumvent this process without a real good excuse. This whole issue and how it's just now being addressed makes Charleston County school officials look bad. It appears that politics and special interests are their primary concern and not the security and safety of all students. Again, I have to ask why CCSD hasn't enforced existing laws and policies before now. A lot of disruption could have been avoided before the school year started...unless CCSD is hiding something else. You tell me!
November 10, 2007 at 5:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mlm (anonymous) says...
THE WORD IS THAT THE EDITORS HAVE DELETED SOME POSTS FOR NO GOOD REASON. THIS DOESN'T MAKE THE POST & COURIER LOOK ANY BETTER THAT THE CHEATERS WHO HAVE MANIPULATED THIS STORY ALL ALONG. WHAT GIVES? WHY DELETE POSTS THAT ARE NOT OFFENSIVE? WHAT'S YOUR EDITOR'S AGENDA IN THIS BUIST SCANDAL? START PLAYING FAIR WITH THE TRUTH ON THIS ISSUE OR MAYBE THE PUBLIC SHOULD START TURNING THIS MESS ON THE POST & COURIER.
November 11, 2007 at 6:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JH09915 (anonymous) says...
My question to all of this is, why wait until November to address this problem when it could and should have been dealt with during the summer or even the first week of school??
November 12, 2007 at 2:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bhippey (anonymous) says...
Good. I am glad they are cracking down on parents using other addresses to enroll their children in a particular school. Maybe if Summerville High would do this, the numbers would go down. I knew A LOT of kids at SHS when I attended, that lived in berkeley county. Tsk Tsk.
November 13, 2007 at 10:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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